November 20, 2014

The long awaited day has finally arrived. Digital Eel is pleased to announce that Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space is available once again for the Mac. This release brings the Mac version up to date with the PC version, and it runs on OS X 10.9 Mavericks or greater.

In celebration of this special event, Weird Worlds for Mac will be available on Steam at a 50% discount. Now everyone can return to Infinite Space, and we hope to see new explorers as well! Also, three Kawangi honks for Henry Kropf whose effort and TLC made this release possible. Thanks Henry!

Be sure to also check out the upcoming sequel to Weird Worlds, Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars. Sea of Stars is still in development, but the PC version is available in Early Access. Read the description and watch the teaser. We think you'll enjoy the new approach we're taking to Infinite Space!

Reviews

"It's a game which, after playing, provokes the desire to have another game."
80 –
Eurogamer

"Makes a perfect gift for just about anyone who likes space and science fiction, even if they are not a hardcore gamer."
90 – Game Industry News

"In my opinion, no aspect of this title is lacking."
90 – Hooked Gamers

About This Game

Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space is a hybrid roguelike game of space exploration, adventure and starship combat set within a peculiar as-yet-unvisited region of the galaxy known as the Purple Void. Each time you play the game, a new and different "instant space opera" is generated at random; from locations of stars and nebulae to plot-twisting quest events, nothing stays the same.

But unlike other games of its kind that go on for dozens of hours, Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space plays to its conclusion in less than thirty minutes - it's the perfect lunch break game! Features also include a fully animated star map, a unique turn-based movement system, real-time starship battles, award-winning music and sound, and a robust battle simulator. Weird Worlds also has built-in support for community-created mods that can change anything and everything in the game!

I have heard this game (favouribly) being compared broadly as a kind of 'space solitaire' game. But it doesn't look or even at first blush play like solitaire, so I want to explain why the analogy works for me:

In solitaire, you have the same 52 cards, arranged in such a way that their order is different, so sometimes you might get snuffed out early by an unlucky deal, and sometimes you might fly through for victory - you don't really mind which, because games don't take long so the stakes never feel so high that you'll never play it again.

Weird Worlds shares some of this in common. The star system is filled with mostly the same items and hazards, but the order you encounter them switches out, so in one play through you might have exactly the item you need to best deal with an encounter, and another time you might not.

This means that a lot of it is luck based, but half the fun is replaying the game and seeing where luck will take your exploration of the galaxy this time.

That's not to say it's all luck - fitting out your ships with the best gear takes a bit of decision making, and it's possible to learn the function of special objects to understand whether they're worthless and tradable, or could come in handy. Plus the real time combat segments are basic, but reward people who avoid combat before becoming sufficiently tooled up.

Occasionally, too, the game likes to switch things up by layering a 'meta' plot, usually difficult to resolve, above the usual exploration. Some sort of crisis which the player must solve in order to score a 'win.' These are rare, but always welcome.

Like Solitaire, this is an ideal game to kill a short space of time with, but better than solitaire, it rewards repeat play with just a modicum of depth to be discovered beneath the surface.

As much as I want to like this game I can't. I enjoy the space opera, exploring, seeing new things but htis game just doesn't scratch that itch. Here's a brief breakdown.

PROS:1) it's a short and sweet game. Want to blow a little time? Here you go2) Easy to pick up, easy to 'master'3) There's fun to be had! Explore space, meet new things, see how you do.

CONS:1) It's -short-, as in after less than 3 hours I'm seeing nothing but repeats of things I've seen 3-4 times already2) Combat is rather dull and straightforward, rarely get any chance to try any tactics3) perhaps too easy to pick up and to master, I don't feel like there's anything below the surface I scratched 3 hrs in4) Far too much of your score and your game seems entirely dependant on the RNG at universe creation

All in all I wouldn't reccomend it. I'd been watching it for a while and it looked up my alley but despite getting it with another bundle (so there's no buyer's regret, I bought the bundle for a different game) I'm still rather disappointed with how this turned out. I hope the creators go on to make a more interesting, expansive 'infinite space' type game.

This game combines all the exploration fun of the original Star Trek with the quirkiness of early science fiction pulp stories in a game that plays about as fast as solitaire. Like solitaire, it will take you a little while to figure out a strategy, then you'll play several games back-to-back. Very fun!

This is a coffee break game in the old-school sense of the phrase. It's a turn-based "board game", with play sessions lasting from ten to thirty minutes, depending on whether you die early or play to the end.

Basically, you pick a "class", which determines your starting gear and the value of given items (Military players will want to collect weapons and tech, Scientists will want samples of alien lifeforms with a secondary emphasis on tech, and Pirates will focus on "treasures", mostly consisting of otherwise useless sulptures and shiny things).

The endgame score is equal parts skill and luck. You'll need to figure out what does what, and you'll need to be lucky enough to find things to do the things that do things. (Hint: Smash the Timeless Bauble and type "Nova Cannon" or "Hyperdrive", depending on which you don't have yet.)

Every so often, the game board will spawn with one of three "Major" random events. To beat these, you'll need to either look up a game guide, or try your hand at trial and error.

By the time you've got things figured out, you'll really only be playing this game to try to beat your last score. This is the primary charm of the game. "Oh neat! I found this really valuable thing really early on in the game! I sure do feel lucky!". The parts of the game that require skill are equally emotionally-rewarding. "Wow! I can't believe I vapourised an entire Urluquai armada!"

For $10, you really can't go wrong for something that'll always be in your library whenever you need to kill ten minutes. Time is money, especially in this game.

Kids from 90's might recognise this game well. Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space is a sequel game from Strange Adventures in Infinite Space (SAIS) as far I could remember due to zorg race showing up at main screen and gameplay as well seems very familar yet lot of improvement for its predecessor.

I wanted to like this game. Someone recommended that if I like SPAZ and/or FTL, two of my favorite games, I'd like this game, but it's nothing like them. It very quickly became apparent that there was nothing at all to this game, but I played for a few more hours just in case I was missing something. I wasn't. It's like pulling a lever on a slot machine. So if you like pulling a lever on a slot machine, you'll love this game. If you like strategy, there's none to be had in Weird Worlds.

Note: If you look at the play time on the positive reviews, they actually played less than I did. So they say they like it, but not enough to actually play it.

I feel like I'm just doing random stuff and I have no use in the game. You can change your ships parts, but the descriptions are pretty useless and there are no stats. Mechanics are not explained well. I want to like this game, but I don't.

Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space falls somewhere between Civ 5 and FTL, incorporating diplomacy aspects and space battles. For the majority of the game, you will be flying to different star systems, picking up valuable items, specimens, ship parts, or ambassadors to bring back to your homeworld in the Glory system. The combat can be pretty interesting when you manage to get good upgrades and recruit multiple pilots for your flotilla, but it's usually best to avoid confrontation in the beginning.

Unfortunately, all of the events and alien races can be seen in about 20 playthroughs on the "long" setting, and the long setting itself seems too short. This game would be far better if it had much more content and even longer playtimes, and I can't help but feel it would be more fun to continue upgrading your ships and battling for much longer instead of having to return back to your planet.

If you like games that have some depth yet allow you to sit back and relax whileplaying, Weird Worlds might be right up your alley.

That game can make the time you spend playing it fun and quite addictive. That was a unique experience playing that game. I liked it, the game has a fine graphic and good gameplay, the soundtrack is cool

This is a dungeon crawler in space and with a spaceship instead of a hero. Sadly this game is managing the visual and overall presentation of itself much worse than "faster than light" or "endless space 3" wich are both essentially the same game but much better. I still recommend this game for people enjoying dungeon crawlers or space games.

In a way the game felt mindless to me. Click here to this area, fight, click here etc. It dosen't exactly tell you how to play, and gets more confusing as the game goes on. The game is unineresting. . I tried to like, but I don't reccomend it at this price.

Well it’s not a bad game if you’ll get it for free in a bundle or sth. It’s short, easy, fun to kill time and to play from time to time, but If you want to play something with strategic background or just want a game that you will not leave for ever after 3 hours of playing it’s not for you. This game is not worth money. It has some nice ideas but it’s very repetitive and actually there is not much to do in it. Unfortunately Flash Trek: Broken Mirror is a lot better game than this one: it’s longer, more strategic, and you have more to do there (even building stations and start your own empire) and it’s free. Weird worlds is random, what is good but boring after a while because you have nothing to do here.

It's to random, alot of the time you search 7 planets and don't even find a sheilding system but another run you can have the power of god and crush every thing, it's to random to be fun and ftl is a much better game. The game is to shallow to be fun, to random to be addiciting and overall i don't really like it.

In short, a great little time-waster that, if you want to kill 15-20 minutes, is perfect. However, after playing a few hours of it in one session, it does get a tad repetitive. The combat is very tough if you don't have much equipment. I made that mistake by trying to tackle a corvette (medium class ship) alone. I died in 10 seconds flat...Aside from the quite tough combat, the general gameplay is enjoyable, with 3 different ships to start with and you can make your own fleet whilst on your travels. There's also a combat training bit where you pick which ships you want to control, have an alliance with or fight against. Good job Digital Eel :) 7.5/10

Let me start by saying the game is great, overall. Its nothing too amazing, but a great game none the less. Its gameplay is randomly generating thus giving the plaer an indefinite replay value, so it can be easy to get your moneys worth out of this game if its your thing. But speaking of the price, its 10$ and thats pretty on edge of how much its worth through my experience. I got it for free in a giveaway myself, and its a great game, but I'd say its more around worth 5$, if its on sale buy thing game, if its not: invest into taking some more ime to see if its your cup of tea.

The Gameplay:

On to the gameplay, theres alot to say and to keep it short I'll say this: The gameplay is a solid 8.5/10, its a randomly generated fun adventure full of things to explore. The mechanic of having to return after 30 years in-game is a unique and brilliant touch to a game of this genre. It gives you an almost arcade like feel of constantly trying to get a new highscore, its simply addicting and fun so see what you can get. Playing this game blind will make your experience ALOT better too, playing it blind will make the game so intresting to discover things, I know from experience there will be many occasions you thought youve seen everything, but suddenly a brand new ship, race, battle, etc. comes up. If these thigns sound appealing to you, look into this game more, its a really great relaxing time waster. (and I almost forgot to mention: its got quite the FTL like feel to it, but with a wide range of completely new, different mechanics.)

TL;DR

TL;DR: The games pretty good. Is it worth 10$? That depends on your likings because 10$ is the maximum price the game could be worth, if the game is on sale you should totally buy it. It's a well-made, rouge, never ending, suprising, random, curious, almost FTL-like experience that will leave you addicted to getting a higher score or explore more each time.